Microsoft has decided to rush out a fix for a flaw in Windows, saying that the problem has become too serious to ignore. The flaw, which will be patched on Tuesday, was originally disclosed to Microsoft in December, but it was not publicly reported until last week. The bug lies in the way Windows processes .ani Animated Cursor files, which are used to create cartoon-like cursors in Windows.

"Mono enables Windows .NET developers to code in C# or VB.NET using Visual Studio and .NET 1.1 or 2.0 development technologies, and then compile and run .NET code base on multiple platforms, including Windows, Linux, Sun Solaris, Unix and Mac OS X. Mono supports multiple languages, and both open source and commercial compilers. In February, Mono released the Mono Visual Basic Compiler, which .NET developers can use to program in Visual Basic.NET. The new compiler is written in Visual Basic and is "self-hosting."

>> Your statement is unfortunately now out of date,
>> since February this year.

Which would mean something if most corporations aren't still maintaining applications written in VB5 and earlier - which means all that .NET stuff means exactly two things.

... and Jack left town, took his **** with him.

Ever been at a company where they expect you to maintain a decade old VB3 application, and when you suggest rebuilding it on a new platform run the risk of getting fired for daring to SUGGEST such a 'radical and dangerous change'?

Also worth mentioning that while mono lets you RUN .NET code, it doesn't have an equaivalent development environment for the *nix platform. Sorry, but Stetic is a tinker toy (even it's developers admit that).